Michael Jackson: Epic Botching of Great Unreleased Single from “Bad” Album
Today is the third anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. (Also the the third anniversary of Farrah Fawcett’s passing, FYI.) Epic Records cannot get Michael’s posthumous recordings out properly. Way back I told you that Michael’s longtime engineer Bruce Swedien had one extra track from “Bad”–the same one the late Frank DiLeo remembered as being outstanding. It was called “Don’t Be Messin’ Around.” I wrote about it here: http://www.showbiz411.com/2009/07/02/20090702book-michael-jackson-in-the-studio-bruce-swedie.
So it turns out that three weeks ago, on June 5th, Epic released “Don’t Be Messin’ Around” as the B side of the reissued “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” the original single from the “Bad” album.I spoke to Bruce a few minutes ago. He says the track is NOT a demo, it’s the finished track. “Michael didn’t make demos. He played piano on that track. That’s the record.” Sony did not consult Swedien about the track. They did send Spike Lee down to interview him for a video they’re doing on the “Bad’ 25th anniversary release set for…September. But for now, no publicity.
What??? After all the fighting about the Cascio tracks from the “Michael” album, here was the one track everyone agreed was really Michael, was really from classic sessions, and could have been trumpeted into a big deal. Not only has there been ZERO publicity, but also you can only buy the single at Wal-Mart, and only physically. Not digitally. In 2012. I can’t imagine why Sony/Epic/Legacy and the Michael Jackson estate was unable to do this right. It’s like everything else with Michael Jackson’s post-death recordings. And to think Sony said it made a deal for $200 million. They’re not going to earn it back this way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmcxpD9Y2sE
It’s unfortunate that we live in a society which tears apart an artist’s life while they’re alive and makes a martyr of them after their death. Hopefully Michael is resting more peacefully than he lived, under the intense heat of the media. Who was the man in the mirror and behind the television screens? I addressed MJ’s legacy with a portrait on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/06/in-memoriam-king-of-pop.html Drop by and let me know how his music affected you. While you’re there, we’ve posted the Top 10 music videos of All Time from the King of Pop!